Following last week's loss to the Carolina Panthers, the Green Bay Packers' fan base was a wreck. Not only did Green Bay lose its first home game of the season, but superstar tight end Tucker Kraft was ruled out with what was later announced to be a season-ending ACL tear.
After Carolina kicker Ryan Fitzgerald secured a game-winning field goal, fingers were pointed at missed kicks and poor game management as everyone rushed to declare the Packers as not serious contenders.
However, thanks to ESPN's Ben Solak, fans might have discovered an alarming trend with Green Bay's game-planning.
By sorting previous Packers matchups into favorite/underdog scenarios, Solak found a correlation between an opponent's perceived level of difficulty and QB Jordan Love's yards per pass attempt. With easier matchups came shorter attempts from Love, revealing a habit of conservative play-calling against teams the Packers should be a tier above.
Went spelunking for a stat to capture the feeling that the Packers offense is too cautious against inferior opponents. Wasn't too hard to find! https://t.co/tvsnRSuvSe pic.twitter.com/6q4HClNbon
— Benjamin Solak (@BenjaminSolak) November 4, 2025
While the Panthers clearly aren't one of the worst teams in the league like they were two years ago, the Packers were still heavily favored entering the matchup. This may have influenced the Packers, leading them to commit to a run game that wasn't quite clicking and calling screen passes that Carolina seemed ready to blow up.
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With the only losses of the season coming from the Cleveland Browns and Panthers, the rest of Green Bay's season is a head-scratcher. Will they dominate the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday night like they did the Detroit Lions and Washington Commanders? Will a Week 11 matchup against a two-win New York Giants team come down to the wire?
The Packers need to make a statement in their upcoming matchups and prove they can set their own tempo instead of playing down to their opponents'.
Still on top of the NFC North, it's difficult to complain too much for the moment, but as the division continues to get more competitive, the Packers can no longer afford to come into a game with an arm tied behind their back.
Fans can only hope that this strange trend won't detract from the Packers' ability to win games in the closing months of the season; the team will have to handle five divisional matchups in the final seven weeks of 2025.